Brass Cleaning Recipes

[Buster]

Since I have just recently starting reloading, I got to thinking about a previous thread in this forum, and was wondering how do / what do you guys use to clean/prep your brass for reloading?

I have a Hornady Ultrasonic Cleaner that I load with 50-50 mix of tap water and Mean Green ($4.50/gallon at the local Dollar Store).
I usually load approximately 100-200 rd of brass in the basket and turn the heater on 104 degrees and let run for 30 minutes.
Turn the heater off, let run for another 15 minutes.
Drain tank.
Rinse brass with tap water.
Fill tank with distilled water and run for another 15 minutes with heater off.
Drain tank.
Remove brass and let air dry on towel for at least 24 hours.
About half of the primer pockets are spotless, the other half,,,not so much.

Tumble in Lyman 1200 PRO Turbo, using Lyman Treated Corncob Green Media (7631394) for approximately 2.5 hrs to polish.
About half of the primer pockets need cleaning of the media after this operation.

Here is the results:



Any one else care to share their cleaning recipes?

[TacBlade]

Stainless media in a Thumber Tumbler, Lemishine and dish soap, topped off with water. I will never use anything else again. 100% Spotless and Shiney primer pockets.

[NugginFutz]

+1

I've got an Ultrasonic cleaner and vibratory tumbler, but am now waiting for my Thumbler from Amazon. I've seen too many examples of brass cleaned by ppl using the stainless media to ignore it any longer. There is just no comparison.

As far as recipes for the Ultrasonic goes, I just stick with the 40:1 mixture of Hornady Brass solution and Distilled water. Rinse with tap water, and again with more distilled water. No spots, but I've never gotten the case interiors or pockets as clean as the people who are using stainless media.


ETA: As a side note, after using the ultrasonic cleaner, I run a lightly lubed case neck brush in all the cases, as clean dry necks tend to cause high or uneven seating pressure, etc.

[mwilkins]

Thumler Tumbler. Half gallon of water, dish washing soap, a pinch of Lemishine, 2.5 lbs of media. Number of brass depends on caliber. Decap brass, tumble for two hours, rinse, put in small toaster oven at low temp to dry, trim case, debur/chamfer, lube and resize. Back in the tumbler for another hour. Results are below.

1000 rounds of .223

Before


After

[rushmc1a]

Stainless media in a Thumber Tumbler, Lemishine and dish soap, topped off with water. I will never use anything else again. 100% Spotless and Shiney primer pockets.

+1 on the thumber tumbler

[lrgrendel]

Hey guys. Any particular model of Thumler Tumbler? I would not have any more than 300 cases of either Grendel or 308 at one time. I won't mix them

[Sniper338]

Umm the red one is the one i have.

[TacBlade]

Model B

[deadeyerick]

Stainless steel pins are the only way to go! Frankford arsenal has a new tumbler out that is larger and cheaper. I may sell my Thumler and switch. I have done over 10,000 rounds with the Thumler. It works fantastic

[bwaites]

Thumlers last forever, not so sure about Frankfort Arsenal. I've burned up two of their vibratory tumblers.

[Klem]

I've picked up a couple of recipes over the years but they all contain vinegar, salt, detergent and lemon juice.

1 cup hot water
1 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons dish washing detergent
2 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)

I shake it around in a plastic bucket for a bit then wash with tap water. Rub in an old towel to prevent staining. Always with primers removed to aid drying. Have used air dryers on cold days but usually just a towel rub and finish in the sun. Then tumble in vibratory tumbler normal cycle (3 hours) otherwise I find they need more lube going into the dies.

Only go to this effort every now and then on very stained brass. Otherwise it's 3 hours in the tumbler only.

Need to get myself one of those rotary tumblers with stainless media. Heard nothing but positive feedback about them.

[lrgrendel]

Thumler Tumbler. Half gallon of water, dish washing soap, a pinch of Lemishine, 2.5 lbs of media. Number of brass depends on caliber. Decap brass, tumble for two hours, rinse, put in small toaster oven at low temp to dry, trim case, debur/chamfer, lube and resize. Back in the tumbler for another hour. Results are below.

1000 rounds of .223

Before


After

Is your model the B model? If not how much media will I need? Also how many Grendel cases will it clean at one time?
Also does the size of the media matter? (I only shoot 308 and Grendel)

Thanks.

[mwilkins]

Yes. It is a model B. Normally I will tumble up to 100 pcs of brass (.223 and Grendel) or about 50 pcs of .338 and use 2.5 to 3 lbs of media. I have tumbled more brass and used more media but it does put a little strain on the system. As for the media being used, it was purchased with the tumbler but putting some mics on it, the media looks to be .040" in diameter and .250" long. You will just have to experiment with amount of media/water/soap/Lemishine and time to brass ratio for the results you desire. If you are on the fence about a Thumler, you would be hard pressed to find anyone whom doesn't love their setups. The results far out weigh the cost. Spare parts are available. Would suggest getting a spare belt.

[lrgrendel]

Great info thanks

[ejkoechling]

built my own SS tumbler last year. Will never use dry tumbling agian. Not sure how much I can do at one time , but with the 1/2 horse motor. it can handle quite a bit